Thousands of school food service workers in New Jersey are living at or near poverty, according to a new report commissioned by SEIU Local 32BJ. The report found that the average hourly wage for food preparation workers in educational services was only $8.15, and revealed that many of these jobs pay no more than the NJ state minimum wage of $7.15.
The report, prepared by the Rutgers University Center for Women and Work/School of Management, ascertained that 64 percent of NJ K-12 school districts contract their food service to an outside company and that those private sector cafeteria jobs are largely part-time and typical offer with no affordable health benefits. As a result, most workers are uninsured or forced to turn to the state's public health insurance programs-- a result that contributes largely to the school food service industry acting as one of the biggest drains on New Jersey FamilyCare, as over 6,300 employees and their children covered by the taxpayer-funded state health assistance plan.
Any mother who's tried to get her child to eat certain vegetables they dislike can attest to the difficulty of that task. Which is partly why food service workers play such a pivotal role in our childrens' nutrition and meal balance while they are at school. "School food service workers are often 'invisible' as a factor in student well being", said Mary McCain, author of the report for the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers. "But their role in food preparation and service often can have more influence on food safety and students' healthy eating than official directives." The low wages a food service worker in New Jersey typically earns can make taking time off--even if they are ill--something of a monetary impossibility, since they don't receive any paid sick leave. These are the same workers who handle the food the state's children consume for two out of three daily meals, five days a week.
The report's findings shine a light on the state's $200 million industry--which is dominated by Fairfield, NJ-based Pomptonian Food Service. Some 7,000 people out of the 11,000 food-service employees who work in the state's schools are employed by Pomptonian and other private contractors. Too many of these workers employed by contractors are paid about half as much as those working directly for school districts, according to the report, which links a drop in wage and benefit standards to the stepped-up outsourcing of food service staff.
The report calls on state leaders to make several improvements through legislative or executive action, and demonstrates the need for greater transparency and accountability in the state's food service industry. In addition to increasing wages and health care benefits to a level that can sustain families and reduce reliance on state-funded safety net programs, the report also recommends increased training opportunities for workers, as well as the establishment of a state system for requiring and providing a "food handler permit" for all food service workers in New Jersey.
>> Read the report, "Serving Students" for a more in-depth original research, interviews and an investigation into the practices and procedures of the contracted food service industry in New Jersey's public schools. Full [PDF] report here.
>> News coverage at The Star-Ledger, AP, and NewJerseyNewsroom.com.
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